Big Little ThingsThe genius of LinkedIn
Have you checked out LinkedIn lately? It’s become seriously good.
Three points:
1. No walled garden.
By far the best thing about LinkedIn is that I can export my contacts. All the connections I make belong to me, and I can take them with me. All the value I create in my social network is fully accessible to me, as it should be. This is not possible on Facebook, and this is the number one reason I’ve stopped investing time into Facebook.
2. Super smart partnerships.
LinkedIn has recently launched a bunch of apps that are actually useful and interesting. For example, when I read the nytimes online, the right hand column has a LinkedIn-sponsored sidebar that sugges ts articles relevant to my work. It’s really good. And there are some new apps/partnerships that facilitate greater collaboration and biz dev, such as ftp dropboxes and portfolio presentation platforms and embedded google docs. All of this suggests a trend that makes a lot of sense to me: the contact list is becoming the hub of web-based collaboration.
3. Niche focus.
LinkedIn has a clear purpose: work-related social networking. Every aspect of their offering is aligned with that focus, and everybody is the network for the same reasons. As a result, there’s way less clutter than you’d find on FB or MySpace.
So yeah, check it out. And while you’re there, go ahead and add me and Josh (and select “friend” when prompted). We’re always psyched to make new connections:
